When Kasparas Jakučionis fell into the Miami Heat's lap at the No. 20 pick of the 2025 NBA draft, it felt like they'd suddenly scratched off a jackpot prize. Beyond the obvious perks of getting a prospect who was essentially universally regarded as a lottery pick well outside of the actual lottery, his penchant for playmaking made him appear as an obvious—and immediate—need-filler.
Perhaps things still play out that way, and the pick is, in fact, remembered as being transformational by hoops historians. Then again, his shaky start on the summer circuit is, if nothing else, a reminder that first-year players who make an immediate impact are the exception, not the expectation.
Growing pains could define the early part of Jakučionis' career.
To get one thing out of the way, the significance of summer league is always up for debate. Some will recommend discarding summer stats entirely. And they aren't necessarily wrong. Stephen Curry, aka history's greatest shooter, happened to convert just 32.5 percent of his field goals during his Sin City stint.
While production maybe doesn't matter, though, the process behind it is always worth monitoring. You'll live with mistakes tied to aggressiveness and the chaotic play style. What's harder to stomach, though, is when worries you had about a draft prospect start to look like legitimate weaknesses against professional defenders.
That's the worry with (most) of what Jakučionis has shown so far. Inconsistency, questionable decision-making, and relatively limited athleticism—all of this stuff popped up in his predraft scouting reports.
The hope was (and, again, still is) that his feel, creativity, and effort would help him overcome those weaknesses. Have the Heat seen anything to this point to convince them that'll be the case already for the upcoming campaign? That's a canyon-sized stretch.
Between California and Las Vegas, he has suited up five times in summer league. Four of them were clunkers. He had a 24-point outburst in the other, yet he was so brutal otherwise that he's still averaging just 8.4 points. And shooting 31.3 percent from the field (22.7 percent from three). And averaging more turnovers (3.4) than assists (2.4).
The numbers might not be the whole story, but they're the best encapsulation of just how rocky things have been so far for the rookie. And while it might be fair (or even reasonable) to believe he'll do better under the day-to-day tutelage of coach Erik Spoelstra and the rest of this developmental staff, there's no guarantee Jakučionis becomes a positive contributor at any point, let alone this season.
Not to keep belaboring this point, but to be perfectly clear, none of this is destined to define his career. If he pushes anywhere near his full potential over time, it's possible only the most fervent members of the Heat faithful even remember these summer struggles.
Yet, with no other data points to draw from right now, Jakučionis pretty clearly more closely resembles a developmental project than he does a rotation-ready part of Miami's 2025-26 plans.